Knight
by thehush
Summary: Jennifer snoops on the boys.


**"Knight" by Erin**

Sometimes, Jennifer realized she felt more comfortable with the boys. Even though they did as they were told and listened to the hierarchy of girls – the boys of Rose Orphanage played their own game. 

It usually happened after supper, when class had long been over and everyone's chores were done. That night Diana, Eleanor, and Meg disappeared into the attic to discuss plans for something she knew she would never be a part of. Wendy joined them, despite the oncoming signs of a summer cold. Clara hid herself away in the library to read to Susan and Olivia; the girls serving as her tiny guards, she realized, as Mr. Hoffman, their caretaker, could be heard wandering the orphanage before locking himself away in his room. Amanda had gladly busied herself with her sewing, only Jennifer hearing when the girl had mentioned she was making a doll for their youngest.

The boys, Jennifer discover, were holed away in the playroom playing knights. Usually only Nicholas and Xavier played, but tonight Thomas had torn himself away from his world of trains to uphold his title. From the crack in the door she could see they each wore their wooden swords at their sides, their sheaths shabby but loved.

Nicholas unsheathed his sword. "Knights of the Rose, my brothers in arms, I welcome you here, on this… uh, good night." His sloppy hair fell all around as he sheathed his sword and bowed.

Xavier and Thomas followed suit, unsheathed and then re-sheathing to bow. "Here! Here! Sir Nicholas!" The two responded before they all sat down at the round table the playroom used for games.

"We meet tonight to pick a princess to rescue." Nicholas sighed. "We can't keep saving the Tearful Princess, she always cries when we find her."

Thomas nodded. "She says we scare her when we pick her up."

"How about the Impet…petuous Princess." Xavier chewed on his fingers a little before he was kicked under the table.

"She'll tattle to the three mighty that we didn't pick the Lonely Princess." Nicholas flicked crayons off the table so that they hit the wall beside them.

She knew they would never attempt to save Diana, the Strong-Willed Princess, Eleanor, the Cold Princess, or Meg, the Wise-Looking Princess – all of them had confessed almost every meeting that the three girls scared them. They _were_ scary, and the boys weren't even treated badly by them.

"What about the Frightened Princess, sir?" Thomas piped up.

The three boys sat quietly for longer than seemed normal. A dark air had filtered out of the conversation and hung low over their heads, threatening to break up the meeting before it had even really begun.

Nicholas was the first to speak, Xavier having sunk lower into his seat to avoid the subject. "Lady Clara is and will always be in our protection. She is our favorite."

The other boys nodded, Jennifer feeling a pang of guilt run through her. Even though her curiosity was the whole reason she knew – the orphans who had been at the orphanage longer had discovered on their own what made their oldest tremble in fear nightly.

Xavier finally spoke up. "The Small-Hearted Princess?"

His friends eyed him cautiously as though he had gone mad. "She is your princess, Sir Xavier – that is all she needs." Thomas replied, Nicholas too beside himself with laughter at his friend's blush to agree.

For another long sitting of minutes, the boys looked around at the room thinking. She figured they were trying to think of any reason not to include her. If they did, and the other girls found out, they would be punished. No one could ever think of her as a Princess anyway – what with her boyish looks and her status amongst the girls of the house. Even Amanda was higher than her, and only begrudgingly so.

"The new girl can't be a princess." Thomas began, his small voice breaking her heart for a hundred reasons. "She must be a knight."

Her eyes were as wide as Nicholas'. "A girl can't be a knight!"

"Why not? No princess is good with a sword." The younger boy defended.

"You've seen her with a sword?" Xavier offered, but seemed to be getting bored with the meeting.

Thomas nodded energetically. "I saw her in the garden, playing Prince and Princess with Lady Wendy!"

So startled by the idea that anyone had seen her and Wendy in their secret place, let alone watched as she pretended to be Prince Joshua, caused Jennifer to lose her balance and fall into the room. The boys were immediately up and upon her, their swords drawn.

The strength of their voices almost pushed her back out into the hall. "Who goes there!"

Thomas' sword dropped back down to his side. "Oh! Its just Jennifer."

The other boys followed suit only after they noticed her short boyish mop of hair. "You can't come in here, we're playing."

She nodded without question, truly embarrassed that she had let herself get caught. Picking herself up off the floor, Jennifer turned to leave, but the wooden tip of a sword caught her by surprise as it poked her in the back.

Turning, she found Nicholas offering her his sword. "Sir Thomas tells us you aren't a princess at all, but a knight in disguise. Is that true?"

Hesitating, she swallowed back the sudden fear that the other girls would discover her here and took the stance she had learned from Gregory. He had wanted to teach his son how to play fight and could only show her so much before the worry of illness got the best of his senses. She had practiced for hours, having nothing to do in her room when he had gone to tend the fields.

Now, with a proper fighting partner, she realized the boys had no idea what they were doing. Xavier was backed into a corner before he could even protect his hand, swollen and red marked from her constant attacks. Thomas wouldn't fight her; instead he handed over his sword to Nicholas and stood back to spectate. Their leader was relentless, stronger and quicker than his companions – but Jennifer was able to knock his sword to the ground in a short time.

Nicholas laughed, obviously entertained by the fact that the most hated girl in the Orphanage had beat him. "Beggar, filth, unlucky girl-" He picked up his sword and held it out to touch her shoulder, despite her flinch. "I hereby dub thee, Sir Jennifer, the Unlucky Prince. Too wretched to be a princess, but too clever not to be a prince."

Xavier and Thomas bowed towards her, before she was given a seat at the table.

"Okay, this is how you play, Sir Jennifer!" Xavier's chubby face lit up as he and Nicholas explained the rules of the Knighthood, even though she already knew them by heart.

That was how she came to play Knights with Sir Nicholas, the Sloppy Prince, Sir Xavier, the Gluttonous Prince, and Sir Thomas, the Mischievous Prince. With a sword of her own and a mission to uphold, the boys were just one more relief in the to the reality of the Orphanage. Even if they treated her coldly outside of the playroom, she could keep her knighthood secret – only Wendy knew.

Only Wendy every really knew who she really was.

It made her miss Gregory even more.


End file.
